Welcome to your new life at Mutant High
by pulchra fabula
Summary: Pat, Charlie, and Maggie are 3 powerful mutants. When they hear mutants are being kidnapped, they are ordered to go to the X-men. But trouble arises as one of their own is taken, and the kidnapper remains a secret. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**OK, so I hop you like it **

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'MARGARET.'

I stared at my calculator, and sighed. I pressed the clear button as I search for Patrick's mind.

'_but if x is/ Steve looks really/ the direct object/ __**Maragret, Maggie**__!'_ found it.

'What do you want Pat?'

'relaying information, Mags' he thought. 'Bobby said that someone had been kidnapping mutants, and Professor X wanted us to go to the Mansion after school.'

'Again?'

'yea. I swore to pass on the message, so just promise me you'll tell Charlie.'

'promise. But now I gotta get back to my riveting math class. See you after later' I closed connection with his mind.

'Bye M. and be careful' I sighed again cleared my calculator.

After school, I went to go find Charlie. He was playing basketball with that other sophomore guys. Charlie was easy to pick out, because he was really tall. And he was pretty good at basketball. His power was quite awesome. He could control his molecular density, allowing solid objects to pass through him(or he could go through them), or becoming indestructible, and what's really cool, is that he can shadow-travel too.

"Yo! Charlie!" one guy called, "Your girl's here."

I raised my eyebrows at him, "Hey Joe, how do you know I'm not here for you?"

He laughed at me, "Just kidding Maggie, take Charlie and get outta here—he's ruining my chances at getting baskets."

I smiled as Charlie came over.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Bobby gave Pat a message; Professor X wants to see us later."

"OK. Where's Pat now?"

"Um……I think he's waiting for us."

My cell buzzed. 'COME TO MY HOUSE. NO ONE'S HERE.'

I showed Charlie my cell. He nodded, and grabbed his stuff. I hoisted my backpack further up on my shoulder, and we began walking towards Pat's house.

We knocked on the door when we arrived. Pat opened it. He was a red-headed and freckly freshman, a little on the skinny side. He very sporty, we all are, but he also looks a bit like a computer techie. That's why I found it funny when I discovered his powers were to control technology. Like, total control. In less than a minute he could have a cell phone turn into a stun gun. And he has too, on occasions in which he saved our lives.

"We all set?" he asked as he led us inside.

We nodded.

"OK, then."

Charlie grabbed both of us, leaned into a shadow caused by the couch. We were then at Professor X's School for the gifted. Unfortunately, we landed in the middle of a class of his……again.

"Sorry" was all Pat managed to get out before Charlie took us into another shadow and we found ourselves next to Wolverine.

"Watch it bub." He then saw it was us. "Oh fantastic, you three are back," he said sarcastically. Why don't you go see the professor?"

"We already dropped in on his class," Patrick abashedly said.

Wolverine's face softened a bit, he like Pat best, probably because he was still a young kid in Wolverine's eyes. "Ok then. Come with me you three, you can talk to Scott, Ororo, Jean, Bobby, and Hank until Prof. gets there." With those words, he led us to a conference hall were the main members of the X-men were sitting. He showed us inside and proceeded to light a cigar. Everyone stared at us, looking like they were picking out flowers that would look good on our coffins.

'_It's very serious Margaret_.' Jean communicated with me.

'_What now?'_

'_Probably Magneto, we're not really sure.'_

'_You've dealt with him before, what's the big deal now? And what's it got to do with us?' _

"You are a class 5 mutant," Professor Xavier said aloud as he came into the room, "and whoever this person is, they are after very powerful mutants."

Pat and Charlie looked at me, and I rolled my eyes.

"Fantastic," I sarcastically replied.

"This isn't funny, Margaret," Scott reprimanded me.

"I know! Stop being such a —"

"Enough," Professor X said. "Until we know more, the three of you will be staying here.

I didn't need to be telepathic to able to know what Pat and Charlie were thinking. They were thinking the same thing as me. Do we really need to live with the overprotective X-men?

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	2. Chapter 2

"Magneto," Mystique said, "our sources report that Professor Xavier has taken the three children to the school, where they presumably will be under protection 24/7."

Magneto sighed. "Thank you."

"I don't get," Sabertooth interrupted, "what's so special about these kids?"

"Don't you listen to anything?" Magneto asked, "Pryo, please read to Sabertooth our little friends descriptions."

Pryo nodded and read aloud

"Margaret Creegan, class 5 mutant. Abilities: telepathy, telekinesis.

Charles Bronson, class 3 mutant. Abilities: shadow-traveling, molecular density change.

Patrick Smithson, class 4 mutant. Abilities: technology control."

"I still don't understand," Sabertooth responded, "why those powers so special?"

"Let me break it down for you," Mystique said, "in idiot speak, the girl is like another Jean Grey, the Charles boy can go through any shadow and appear in a different shadow, along with changing his molecules to either make him indestructible, or allow solid objects to go through him, and the Patrick boy can control technology, making a communication device, to something as complex as a gun or time bomb. Understand now?"

"Yeah," Sabertooth growled sarcastically, "thanks for that."

"Silence," Magneto commanded. Sabertooth, Pyro, and Mystique looked at him obediently. I just want you monitoring them, and be on your toes. When the time is right, you know what to do."

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	3. Chapter 3

We (and I mean me) were on house arrest. Or detention. Take your pick of the word choices. We couldn't leave the mansion, and we were always under the watchful eye of somebody. Luckily for Pat and Charlie, they had it easier than I did—they could sometimes go off by themselves, I was stuck with a "qualified" member of the X-men. Usually Wolverine. And he wasn't all that happy about that. But I guess we were bonding while Pat and Charlie went back with Jean and Scott to get our things….

"Change the channel," Wolverine told me.

"Nope."

"This is boring, you know that Mets will lose the ballgame."

"No they won't, they're only down by one run."

"It's a baseball game, put on something else."

"Like what? Animal Planet? Love to see your home environment?"

Wolverine snarled and tried to grab the remote from me. I blocked him with a force field.

"Hey! Chill out, both of you," Beast exclaimed, coming into the television room. "Maggie, try to be nice to everyone, this is for your own good. We don't need you here, causing more problems that Professor has to deal with.

"Well," Charlie said sliding through a shadow caused by a lamp, "we all know that Maggie doesn't play well with others."

I shot him a nasty look as he melted back into the shadows.

"Charlie!" I screamed

"Back again," he said, tapping me on the shoulder. "And I got your stuff. It's in your room."

"Thanks," I replied, "and I'm sorry for being a little edgy—"

"little?" snorted Wolverine.

"—but I'm just not totally thrilled with being cooped up in here."

"Well get used to it," Scott said, coming into the room, followed by Jean, "because right now it's the only place that's safe for you." _'and you just better shut up and take it the professor's got enough on his mind without babysitting a self-centered brat'_

'_hey stupid,' _I sent into his mind._ 'next time, if you want to think something rude about me, be smart and do it when I'm not in the room with you, you moron!'_

Scott glared at me as Jean gave me a reproachful look. I rolled my eyes.

"Where's the red-head?"Wolverine asked, referring to Pat.

"With Storm" Jean replied to Wolverine's question, "making adjustments to the jet."

"We're letting him mess with that?"

"You would be surprised what he can do," I said and Charlie and I exchanged smiles.

"Yes," Beast began his lecture, "the boy has the ability to control technology, it seems by will. If I had his help, I could learn so much more about the mutant gene. He—"

"—is right here," Pat said, upon entering the room, causing Beast to stop abruptly.

"Did you break the jet?" Charlie asked.

"Yep. It's all in pieces and smoking because I caused the circuit to overload."

Scott looked horrified, but Charlie and I just laughed.

"He's kidding," I said as Pat smiled at Scott.

"He better be," Scott grumbled.

'_he_ _loves his jet so much, also as much as Jean_' Pat gave me a meaningful look as I read his mind. I laughed as everyone looked at me. Immediately I tried to look very serious, but Pat kept staring and making faces at me, trying to cause me to laugh. And it was working.

"Alright everybody," Strom announced, coming into the room walking like a princess, "It's time for your danger room session."

Pat, Charlie and I sat down on the couch and focused on the television.

"Guys," Storm said, "it's actually a session for you three, so that we can evaluate your power.

I turned to see Pat smiling at me and Charlie grinning. Finally. This could be fun.

We hopped up from the couch and followed the X-men to the danger room.

"We will monitor your progress from that room over there," Storm said, pointing to a room above on her right, "and we will program different simulations to test you thoroughly."

"Can we fight you?" Charlie mischievously asked.

"Possibly," Scott, said as Wolverine said, "Definitely kiddo."

The three of us walked to change into outfits that Professor designed for danger room use. We had great plans, and we were gonna show the X-men that we could take care of ourselves. Let the fun begin.

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	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Jean asked Storm.

Storm shrugged her shoulders and said, "Professor thinks it's a good idea for them to let off some steam. And but having them in a danger room session, it puts them in a controlled environment. We need to see exactly how powerful they all are."

"I just hope that they don't destroy anything," Jean said, "or break any bones."

"The kids'll be fine," Wolverine told Jean, "what's the worst that can happen?"

"Why," Scott countered Wolverine, "whenever someone says that everything goes downhill?"

"Where is Professor?" Beast asked. "Does he not want to see the extent of the children's abilities? For we do not know how much they can do with their power, they have only been here once before."

"Yeah, and they weren't exactly fond of it or us then either," Wolverine butted in.

"Yeah, well, that can't be helped," Scott added. "They're just gonna have to get over that and suck it up."

"Shhh," Storm said, "they're ready."

"Beast, give them session 5," Scott commanded.

"We're giving them that? Skipping 5 levels of training?" Iceman asked, coming into the room.

"They can take care of themselves, they've already proven that." Scott replied.

"Really? When?" Iceman asked.

"Later," Professor said coming into the room. "Just watch them for now."


	5. Chapter 5

We got all suited up had walked into the danger room.

"Ready?" Beast voice came in over the speaker.

I looked at Charlie and Pat. They nodded at me, and I gave Beast a thumbs up.

The room began to change. We were now in a science lab. What the hell?

There were cages, needles, bright lights, and tools for dissecting things (or people). I would have thought that we were in a completely different place, that we were transported to another world or dimension, but I had heard about the X-men's danger room. That, and the fact that Pat had just whispered an awesome plan to me. Oh, can't wait to try this one out! But first…we gotta show them what they want to see.

A shot is fired. Charlie grabs the two of us and we disappear into a shadow. We come out, and I see out attacked. I don't know who he is, but he looks like a mad scientist out of a comic book or something. He turns to us, and two more people in lab coats came behind him.

"Only one for each of us?" Charlie asked. "They're making this way to easy."

"You guys know what to do," I said.

Immediately, Charlie went into a shadow and came out behind evil dude #1. He grabbed his ankles, dragged him into a shadow, came out of another shadow, and bashed the scientist against a wall; it broke into pieces which spewed all over the floor.

While Charlie was getting rid of his evil scientist, Pat and I took out our own scientists down. Pat caused his evil scientist to disassemble, and I created a force field in my and expanded it until evil dude #3 exploded.

"Well," I said turning to Pat, "That took us, um…..how much time?"

"About 5 minutes," Charlie replied, "Give or take a few."

"Well," Beast's voice came over the speaker, "That was…very quick." There was a murmur of voices that we could hear coming from the speaker, but we couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Next session" barked Cyclops.

"Bring it," Charlie shouted and smiled at me.

So after we completed some more sessions (they were supposed to get harder, but they really didn't) Beast's voice came over the speaker again.

"Children," he said, "you are all showing extraordinary skills, especially at this young age."

Charlie and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.

"We are going to give you a much harder session," Beast continued, "we usually give this to more experienced members of the X-men, but—"

"We already proved how experience we are," I interrupted, "and not in you 'danger room' sessions."

"—yes, and you show that the three of you have excellent teamwork skills."

"So what are we doing?" Pat questioned.

"You are going to face the Sentinels in your next sessions."

"Sounds like fun," Charlie commented.

"Those kids are ridiculous," we heard Wolverine's voice over the speaker.

The three of us smiled at each other's and got ready for a good fight.

The Sentinels were huge robots that have attempted to capture the X-men on multiple occasions. But so far they haven't killed them. I guess this had an extremely real feel to it, as opposed to fighting mad evil scientist. Go figure.

The danger room immediately got all foggy and worn-torn. Laser-beam things started shooting at us from above us. I could not see too far in front of me. Huh. Maybe this will be a little harder.

I put up a force field to block me from getting hit by a laser. The three of us needed a plan.

'_Maggie get captured, it'll bring you close enough to its power source to destroy it'_ there was Charlie always thinking on his feet.

I pick a place where I would be visible to the Sentinels, and drew a lot of attention to myself. Sure enough, a giant metal hand grabbed me and pulled me up.

'_the power source will be in the center of it. Attack there'_ Pat sent me. I concentrated on the center of the Sentinel, and created a force field inside the power source. I concentrated until it combusted, and I began to fall. I caught myself.

'one down' I sent out.

Within 10 seconds, Pat and Charlie were standing next to me. Pat went over to the remains of the exploded Sentinel, and started doing his tech thing.

"OK," he stood up. "I know how to destroy them. Charlie, stay alert on case we fall. Mags, you levitate me and take me from robot to robot ."

Charlie and I nodded and did what Pat told us. I hovered Pat and then watched him leap onto the arm of a Sentinel and then the robot crumpled. I then moved him from robot to robot, and took them down.

"Good work children," Professor Xavier said. Charlie and I stiffened. "You did a wonderful job. Your skills are quite remarkable. You three may go to your rooms if you so choose."

We nodded and walked out if the danger room, glad to be done with our training.


	6. Chapter 6

"Professor," Iceman said, "could you please explain to me why these children are very experienced and seem to not like us?

"Because we saved their asses," Wolverine said.

"Not true," Jean turned to Iceman told him. "We didn't do a very good job of saving them, we came when they didn't need us, wielding all the power that we had, and then apparently we took control of a situation that they had under control."

"What?" Iceman asked. "I still don't really get it.

"Let me tell their story," Professor said. "This is what happened:

"When the three of them were younger, Maggie and Charlie were 13 and Pat was 12, they were captured by William Stryker. We are still not sure how Stryker found them, or why he choose to kidnap them, but that no longer matters.

"Tests were performed on them, they were put under a large amount of strain, and as a result they accessed almost all of their power potential. Maggie, unlike Jean, soon achieved her class 5 status because she had no mental blocks placed in her mind. She also was not afraid of her powers, and embraced them—all three of them did.

"They devised a plan to escape, and they succeeded. They freed other mutants that were being held there, and ran to the exits but found them blocked. Charlie took Pat and Maggie through, and found over 100 armed guards waiting for them on the other side. Maggie held a force field in front of the door behind which the other mutants were, to protect them from the fire of the soldiers who were still trying to destroy them. However, when Jean, Storm, and I arrived, the combined power of both mine and Jean's minds caused Maggie to lose control of her force field. As soon as the soldiers saw the force field was down, they tossed grenades into the door. Pat then took control of the weapons, but a soldier without a weapon came and hit him, and already extremely weak, he blacked out. But everything around that door was destroyed. It was horrible, and Jean, Maggie, and I all felt the mutants die. But what happened after that was even more shocking. As soon as Maggie saw what happened she scream an ear-piercing 'No' and in that instant, all of the soldiers, about 150 of them dissolved into ash. Gone. Maggie passed out from the strain of what she had done, though she did not purposely do it. I sensed that Charlie wanted to fight us, so I immobilized him. Jean used her telepathy to bring the three children aboard the jet, while Storm covered our tracks.

"While Storm was piloting the jet, Jean tried to talk to Charlie, while was trying to care for the unconscious Patrick, but Charlie was not speaking and hovered protectively over Pat. I examined Maggie's mind, which is where I got all of the information that I am telling you now. Maggie was in a comatose state, and I brought her inside the mansion. However, she awoke before I could learn anymore about what 'tests' had been done to those children. When Charlie she was awake and better, the two of them attacked. Charlie took down Storm, and Maggie caused Jean and me a large amount of mental pain. The grabbed Pat and Charlie carried him out of the lab. They ran through the mansion, looking for an indication of where they were, I believe they had a run in with Scott, and once they knew, Charlie took them through a shadow, leaving us standing there. Patrick does not hold anything against the X-men, as Charlie and Maggie do, because he does not remember any of his time, however brief, here at the mansion."

"Whoa," Iceman said, "that's harsh, especially for three young kids to go through. What happened when they ran into you Scott?"

"I would rather not talk about it," Scott replied and Iceman laughed.

"Enough," Professor ordered. "This information is important for you to hear, and I will make sure that the other members of the X-men hear it as well. The children only have one loyalty—to each other. Nothing else matters to them. This type of loyalty is the strongest; however, it is also the most dangerous."

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	7. Chapter 7

"It's cool how the danger room works," Pat commented as the three of us walked back to our rooms. Pat and Charlie shared a room, while I had my own across the hall from them.

"Yeah, guess it's ok," I responded and Charlie nodded in agreement.

"Guys," Pat said, "you have no idea. Do you even have any idea how it works?" We shook our heads. "That type of technology is pretty advanced—to be able to have holographs that can actually feel real and hurt us? It's amazing. Those Sentinels we faced were actually holographic robots. They we able to be taken apart by me because of the type of technology they are made of, but THEY'RE NOT REAL!"

Charlie and I exchanged looks and listened as Pat went on with his amazement of the Danger Room.

"Hey!"a voice called, "wait up!"

We turned around and Iceman slide up to us.

"That was pretty awesome guys," he said, "you really know your stuff." He looked at Charlie and me, then at Pat.

"Yeah, well," Charlie said, "we have had experience."

"Yeah, I heard about that, what actually happened—" Bobby stopped abruptly. "Crap. You guys, please come with me for a second."

Pat looked at us shrugged, and followed Iceman. Charlie and I looked at each other and followed as well.

'_don't know if this is such a good idea Mags'_

'_tell me about it—I feel so uncomfortable here'_

'_it's strange, you would think the X-men wouldn't like us very much after what happened last time'_

'_Scott still doesn't trust us'_

'_well you did take his glasses off his face and torture him with mental pictures of Jean in pain until he told you where we were'_

'_I seem to recall you taking the glasses off his face'_

'_I'm pretty sure it was you, remember, I was carrying Pat'_

'_hm….maybe it was me…'_

'_told ya'_

'_well, anyway, they others seem to be kinda willing to forgive and forget, but they're still very cautious'_

'_as are we'_

'_true'_

'_but still, Professor was pretty insistent that we come here'_

'_I don't think he could handle screwing us a second time, if you know what I mean'_

'_haha, yeah. 3 mutants down for the count, especially one like you, would really mess up Prof's record' _

'_I'm actually really glad that they don't have an attitude towards Pat, that they don't hold anything against him for what we did'_

'_yeah, it's really good of them. But he didn't do anything to them, remember? He was unconscious'_

'_true. Well, whatever. We need to continue this at another time—everyone' waiting on the other side of door for us to arrive.'_

'_alright then'_

We let the conversation go so that no one (Professor X and Jean) could hear our thoughts. Though they probably could anyway. Whatever.

"Children," Professor X said as we entered the room. Scott gave me a look and turned again to face the Professor.

"There is a problem," Xavier continued, "the Senate is about to debate about a new mutant legislation, and I wanted Maggie here for her assistance."

"How can I possibly help?"

"I am friends with one of the Senators, and he has granted me permission to listen to some of the conversation through his mind. Now, it will be very hard, as there is distance to consider as well, so Maggie, you and Jean should be prepared in case I need to rest."

"Are there security camera's in the room? Or Laptops?" Patrick asked.

"Yes," Beast interrupted, "but I don't see how—" he stopped short as Patrick went over to the television and knelt down with his fingers touching the screen. About a minute passed, with everyone staring at Pat next to the television. When he stepped back, there was a picture of the Senate on the flat-screen TV, emitting the sound in the room.

"That is so cool!" Iceman exclaimed.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Scott angrily asked, "that signal could be traced to the mansion! You'll get us all arrested! We are actually trying to keep the mutant population safe."

Pat turned and looked at Scott. "I do know what I did, and don't worry. They promised to delete any evidence of me being there."

"They?" was Scott's bewildered reply.

"The machines."

Now Scott was not the only one staring at Patrick. "One more time."

"The computers and security camera's promised me that I don't need to worry about being caught—they delete the files and any proof that I was there."

"They told you this?" Scott couldn't seem to grasp his head around the fact that Pat talked to machines, but he wasn't alone. The other X-men were still staring blankly at Pat.

"Yeah, but don't worry, they don't talk to anyone but me."

"Talk?" Kitty asked "I mean I can cause machines to not work, but you can talk to them?"

"Yeah," Pat replied, "I can control technology and talk to machines. You learn lots from them."

"What do you learn, Patrick?" Beast asked, sounding like a true scientist.

"Well, for example," Pat began, "in the Danger Room today I learned weakness, strengths, and maneuvers that each individual X-men had trouble with. I learned the normal routines, and I successful know how to beat one of Wolverine's Danger Room Sessions." He got blank stares from the others in the room. Pat shrugged and said "the machines told me that students usually found those extremely hard."

"You learned…all that?" Beast stammered.

"Well, a little more than that, but yeah" Pat replied and shrugged again. "It's no big deal."

Beast was still staring blankly at Patrick.

"Erm….." I interrupted, "not to ruin the staring contest, but the Senate's coming to order or whatever, so maybe we should pay attention?"

"Of course," Professor said, "everyone, I want the television to have your complete attention."

Everyone nodded and faced the TV, ready to see what the government knew about the mutant population now.

'_score one for Pat' _I sent to Charlie

He smile_ 'yeah, that was awesome' _

'_yeah they can so just suck—'_ I stopped before Jean and Professor (who were both staring at me) yelled at me. Charlie and I exchanged glances and looked at the TV.

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**Sorry for the long delay, hope you like the story. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Magneto allowed himself a small grin. It seemed that so far things were going according to plan. But he still needed to wait, it was not time yet. He also had others matters to attend to as well.

"Mystique," he called.

"Yes?" She replied, coming into her room as her blue self.

"It will soon be time, do you know what you must do?"

"Yes, I do. And I gave Sabertooth explicit orders, and Juggernaut and Pyro know what to do as well."

"Good, at the first opportunity, I will send you out. Be on alert."

"Yes Magneto," Mystique said as she turned and walked out of the room.


	9. Chapter 9

Professor Xavier watched at the three children left the room, Charlie and Maggie very ticked off at those in the senate. Xavier, however, was not annoyed, just tired. All the senate did was debate how powerful mutants were, and how they should be controlled. He had heard it so many times before, that it just tired him. He allowed himself a smile at Charlie's reaction.

"Our tax dollars at work are trying to screw us. This is why I hate taxes!" However, Scott had been quick to point out that Charlie didn't pay taxes, which in turn caused a lot of eye-rolling and rude thoughts between Charlie and Maggie.

"Professor?" Storm questioned.

"Yes, Ororo?"

"What is to be done about the 3 Musketeers?"

"I want them to continue training, I am going to match them up with one of you."

"I am NOT going with Maggie," Scott declared.

"Jean will be helping Maggie develop her powers," Professor replied, "while Forge with be working with Patrick. Their powers are similar enough. However, I do want to pair Shadowcat up with Charlie just yet. Do I have any other volunteers?"

"Can I?" Bobby asked.

"Bobby," Scott said, "someone responsible, not you."

"I will work with the child," Beast said, "and I want to run a few tests on the others as well."

"They will not agree to tests Hank," Ororo informed, "they would rather listen to Scott lecture them on how stupid and reckless they are."

"Hm…..very well."

"These kids also need to get out in the real world," Wolverine interrupted, "or they're going to blow up the mansion."

"Maybe I will allow you to take them out soon," Professor X replied, deep in thought, "but right now, I want you to inform each of them who they will be studying with in addition to their classes here."

"Sure thing Professor," Scott said, and the other X-men nodded. With that they walked out of the room, leaving the Professor to his complex thoughts.

Professor Xavier sighed to himself as he watched his beloved X-men walk out of the room. These three young mutants, the "3 Musketeers" as Storm called them, gave him much to think about. The children were not mutants who came to the Xavier Institute seeking help; rather they fled from the Institute and helped only each other. Nor did Maggie, Pat, and Charlie have a "normal" mutant experience; they were part of William Stryker's projects. And finally, these three children were extremely advanced and not afraid to push themselves to greater expand their knowledge of what they could do. And Wolverine, him of all people, pointed out the very important fact that he couldn't keep the three children cooped up in the mansion for too long. And maybe some field experience would do them good. The next task Wolverine went out on, maybe he would send the kids with him. Professor X sighed again. These three mutants were giving him a headache.


	10. Chapter 10

**Heyyy sooooo sorry about the delay. I was super distracted by things. Thanks to all who still read this or just found it. I luv ya!**

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"—and that's why you don't try to pull as fast one on Wolverine," Bobby concluded. We stared at him, shocked. You don't even want to know what he was talking about.

"If you had asked for my help, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad," Kitty told Bobby, laughing.

"Yeah, well," Bobby shrugged, "I'm fine, so no harm done."

Charlie looked at me. '_I think they're trying to distract us.'_

'_They're not. They are actually trying to make us feel welcome.'_

'_Really?'_

'_Actually, Bobby is thinking of a plan to prank Cyclopes, and he wants our help. He just is too afraid to ask.'_

Charlie smirked. _'He should be.' _I smirked right back at him. In truth, I was a tad worried about Pat. He had been gone for nearly an hour, and I was beginning to worry. My mind kept flashing back to the cells where Stryker held us. Where you could do nothing but watch as those around you were taken away. I shuddered at the thoughts of the needles and the helplessness that came from being a captive of Stryker.

Charlie seemed to see the nervousness on my face, because he patted my shoulder and gave me a smile.

"You guys having a moment or something?" tactful Bobby asked. Kitty, Charlie, and I all sighed and rolled our eyes.

"No you blockhead!" Kitty told him, shaking her head. "They're comforting each other. There's a huge difference."

"Really?" Bobby asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Really Bobby," Kitty said. "See, they're probably worried about Pat, and are reassuring each other."

"Why would they be worried?" Bobby was not faking curiosity this time.

"All parents are over protective of their kids," Kitty answered casually, now flipping through her fashion magazine.

"Hey!" Charlie and I simultaneously protested, and Bobby grinned madly.

"Calm down guys," Kitty told us, closing her magazine. "I didn't mean you're his parents. Besides being totally weird, it's also impossible. Unless of course he's from the future, because something similar happened to the Richards…" She trailed off as Charlie and I stared at her, aghast.

"Anyway," she continued after a moment, "I meant that you two act like you're his parents or something. You are constantly exchanging the exact looks that my parents exchanged when they thought I wasn't looking. It's not a bad thing," she quickly said, "I just think it's weird. I mean, really, you are Charlie are only a year older than him, right?"

"Around that," Charlie replied a bit stiffly.

"How come you guys are like that?" Bobby questioned, and Kitty sat up straighter. I looked at Charlie, who was thinking the exact same thing as I was.

'_No freakin' way!' _his mind screamed at me.

'_Trust me,'_ I sent back, _'definitely no argument here.'_

'_Think the Professor put them up to this?'_

'_No, I think Bobby's just tactless. Kitty freaking out, thinking we'll run away.'_

'_Should we?'_

'_We don't have Pat.'_

'_I can get him.'_

'_No. I'm not a huge fan of staying, but I think we'll be in more trouble outside the mansion all on our own. Besides, X will only track us down and then we'll be really screwed.'_

'_You're right.'_

I smiled smugly. I then turned to Bobby and Kitty, who both looked a little worried. "We have our reasons," was all I said. Kitty looked relieved, and she punched Bobby on the arm.

"Idiot," I heard her whisper. I stifled the grin that threatened to appear on my face. Bobby heard though, and whipped a snowball at her. Fortunately for her, she allowed it to phase through her. Unfortunately for Bobby, his snowball hit the person walking into the room.

"Oh sh—" Bobby began.

"Language Bobby," Scott reprimanded, glaring that the young adult while wiping the snow off his face. I couldn't hide my laughter and neither could Charlie, and so even Bobby and Kitty were laughing at an annoyed Scott.

"Alright," Scott finally said, "enough. I came to get the four of you for dinner. So move it!"

"What about Pat?" I asked quickly.

"He's already there," Scott replied.

"Really?" Charlie asked.

"Yes," Scott replied annoyed. "Will you just come already?" He turned and walked out the door.

Bobby turned to look at us before following Scott. "You guys want to help us prank Scott?" he whispered.

"Definitely" Charlie told him, and I nodded profusely.

Bobby had a mile-wide grin on his face. "Excellent!"

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**Yeah, so thanks so much. Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

We went to dinner, which was for the most part uneventful. Scott talked to Jean, Wolverine shot dirty looks at us across the table, Rogue wouldn't sit near anybody, you know, the usual. Kitty gave me a knowing look as Charlie and I tried not to fuss over Pat. We tactfully didn't ask him any questions. After dinner the three of us decided to watch whatever movie the other kids in the mansion were watching.

I really didn't pay much attention; I was really tired from my earlier session with Jean. I was both mentally and physically exhausted. When the movie was over, I went up to my room. I was lucky enough to have my own room for the moment and I put on my pajamas and got ready for bed. I was no longer sleepy as I went out on the balcony and stared up and the moon and embraced the beautiful night sky.

"Nice, isn't it?"

I whirled around, ready to punch somebody. But Charlie simply laughed and he easily dodged my fist.

"I told you not to do that!" I yelled at him. He only continued to laugh.

"There's got to be a reason you're here," I told him. "Is it Pat? He ok?"

"Pat's fine," he assured me, coming over to stand next to me. "He's already asleep. But we need to talk about him."

"What about?"

Charlie shuffled nervously before clearing his throat. "About our little, um…incident…with the X-men previously."

"Ah…that." I was at a loss for words. I really did not want Pat finding out about our not-so-nice meeting with the people who were not protecting us.

"Yes…that." Thankfully, Charlie seemed about as uncomfortable at the prospect as I was.

"Why?" I asked. I sort of whined it, but that's not the point.

"We can't keep it from him forever."

"We could try."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah, but then it will come right back to bite us in the ass."

"Not necessarily," I grumbled, but either Charlie didn't hear me or he chose to ignore the comment.

"Think about it. Pat would rather hear the truth from us then hear it from someone else. Especially if Scott tells is in an annoyingly condescending voice filled with lies."

"Point," I acknowledged.

"Therefore," Charlie continued, "I think we should probably tell him tomorrow."

"Morning, afternoon, or evening?"

"I'm not sure.

"Morning," I decided. "that way there's less of a chance f him hearing it from someone else."

"But he could wind up not talking to us for the whole day," Charlie countered.

"But Pat's pretty reasonable," I told him, "he probably wouldn't get too annoyed with us."

"You're probably right," Charlie said, smiling at me. For a few minutes the two of us stood at the railing in silence and watched the stars.

"How much of it do you think he really remembers?" I suddenly asked. Charlie knows which "it" I'm referring to; there's no need for me to say it out loud.

Charlie sighed. "I'm not sure Mags," he finally said.

"Do you think it ever bothers him? Like it bothers us?"

"It probably does. But I don't think he dwells on it as much as we do."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure Mags. Maybe because he doesn't really remember it as well; not everyone was as resistant as the two of us were. Maybe because he's smart and realizes that he shouldn't dwell on the past."

"I can't help that I do," I whispered, and I felt Charlie hugging me.

"Shhh…" he whispers as I start blinking rapidly, trying to keep my tears at bay, "I can't help that I do either."

"It's just… sometimes I can't get the images out of my head. When I sleep, the memories come back to me. And half the time I'm not even the one in those memories!" I'm crying now, sobbing into Charlie's shirt as he tries to comfort me. "And the worst ones are of you and Pat, coming back all bruised and bloody and—"

"Stop it," Charlie orders me. I can't do anything but continue to weep in his arms. I cannot remember the last time I've broken down like this. It must have been back with Stryker when Pat was taken away for days. I never cry, especially in front of others.

"Maggie, you need to stop worrying," Charlie tells me. "I'm fine, Pat's fine, you're fine, Scott's fine, but he won't be tomorrow—"

I laugh. Trust Charlie to make me feel better and know exactly how to do it.

"The point is Mags," Charlie said, "is that we got out ok and still have each other. I understand that you can't get rid of the dreams, and that you can't avoid thinking about it sometimes during the day. But try to forget about it right now. I am. We're semi-safe, semi-happy, well fed, and you've got to admit this mansion is pretty awesome. We'll deal with the problem of telling Pat tomorrow, but for now, just be happy."

I nodded. I was happy in this moment. It was a clear night sky filled with stars, even the occasional shooting star. And we were safe. And right now, that was all I could ask for.

Unknown to the children, at the other side of the mansion, Professor X smiled.

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**Sorry for issues with "new" ch 9 and 10 (for those with story alert) I tried to fix 9, but then ten was screwy, but then they were deleted, and then weren't fixed when they were uploaded again. Go figure. **

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed. Please review! **


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